Speech Codes

Throughout the past few weeks, we have been discussing he issue of speech codes and how certain actions can be considered unconstitutional as a violation of the First Amendment. One issue that we heavily discussed was about a fraternity party at Auburn University in which people were painted blackface and wearing KKK costumes. Many photos surfaced from this party, and the ways in which people were dressed and impersonating others was extremely discriminatory an caused for action to be taken against the members of the fraternity.

These were some of the pictures:

After these pictures appeared, many arguments began as to the type of disciplinary action that should be taken against the students. Auburn University prohibits “any form of discrimination or harassment related to a student's race," and by the pictures and the article, these students were clearly displaying discriminatory and harassing behavior. The way in which they portrayed others and degraded people of other races is horrible and it deserves strict consequences. The pictures displayed are in violation of the University policy, and thus, the students that were involved deserve to be punished. Although their actions may seem harmless and funny to some, they are not funny to others and can cause extreme emotional distress to a person that they are portraying. Auburn's policy of "any form of discrimination" indicates that these actions are not permitted and violate the University code. In addition to the University code, these actions can be debated as to if they are also in violation of the First Amendment. The First Amendment allows free speech, but it also doesn't allow free speech that hurts others or puts them in danger. Posting these images and acting in such a way can put others in danger because it could cause someone that was being made fun of to be emotionally distressed and to hurt themselves or others. The school should punish the students by suspending them and investigating the legality of their actions. The students should have to formally and publically apologize to those that they offended because their actions were completely inexcusable. In addition, the fraternity should be placed on probation with the university. While the fraternity may not have known that the party was going to occur, they are still responsible for what happens there. They should receive a warning about this type of behavior and be told that if any type of incident occurs again, the fraternity would be kicked off of campus. An example needs to be made and people need to recognize that this type of behavior is not taken lightly and that it will result in strict consequences.